Checks and balances for ropeway projects

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) exempting aerial ropeway projects from Environmental Clearance (EC) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will fast track all proposed ropeway projects in the country, including the north-eastern region. The question, if ropeway projects are environment friendly, as claimed by the Ministry, however, is far from being settled. The primary argument pushed by the Ministry in support of its decision is aerial ropeway is an environment-friendly mode of transport in hilly areas with least impact on environment compared to Roads or Highways. Dilution of the checks and balances of EIA notifications carries the risk of rampant construction of ropeways and ignoring such a possibility could prove costly for ecologically fragile hilly areas in northeast region. Landslides in Assam's Dima Hasao district and in Arunachal Pradesh claiming several lives apart from disrupting railway and road communications have sounded the alarm bell against pushing connectivity projects without adequate environmental scrutiny safeguards against potential disasters. The MoEFCC's decision follows a representation by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) which states that developing an efficient transport network is a big challenge in hilly areas. The rail and air transport networks are limited in these areas, while the development of road network has technical challenges. In this backdrop, ropeways have emerged as a convenient and safe alternate transport mode stated the MoRTH and requested the MoEFCC to review the requirement of environmental clearance for aerial ropeways. The MoEFCC in its final notification issued on April 27 states that the Expert Appraisal Committee of Infrastructure sector in the Ministry after detailed deliberation, recommended that aerial ropeway is an environment-friendly mode of transport in hilly areas with least impact on environment compared to Roads or Highways and recommended that aerial ropeway projects may be excluded from the ambit of EIA Notification, 2006, subject to certain environmental safeguards laid down from time to time. The MoRTH push for aerial roe projects follows announcement of the National Ropeways Development Programme – "Parvatmala" in public private partnership mode in the Union Budget. An amendment to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 enabled the MoRTH to look after the development of ropeways and alternate mobility solutions. A study carried out by M/s Mckinsey & Co. commissioned by the MoRTH for Ropeway development in the country accelerated the pace of the proposal after the study suggested that MORTH may take up National Ropeway Development Programme named "Parvatmala", similar to the "Bharatmala" programme. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her speech for Union Budget 2022-23 that contracts for eight ropeway projects would be awarded in the current financial year for improving connectivity, and convenience for commuters, besides promoting tourism and the scheme will also cover congested urban areas, where conventional mass transit system is not feasible. The scheme is being launched Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir, and other north-eastern states. Apart from the factor environment friendly, advantages of ropeway projects, which the government claims, include economical and faster mode of transport and last mile connectivity, low space requirements on the ground, low construction and maintenance cost, long rope span facilitating barrier free movement over obstacles like rivers, buildings, roads and ability to handle large slopes and large differences in elevation. Scary images of recent Deoghar ropeway accident in Jharkhand in which collision between cable cars in Trikut hills left three dead while operation to rescue tourists stranded and stuck mid-air spanning for about 40 hours are still fresh in public memory. Bone-chilling visuals of two tourists falling to their death during rescue operations brought to the fore the safety issue in ropeway transport. Challenging rescue operation serves a warning against pushing ropeway projects without adequate safeguards and ignoring risk factors of disasters like landslides, earthquakes in geologically fragile northeast which falls in seismic zone and other hilly regions of the country. Subjecting ropeway development to EIA could have acted like a safety valve and both MoEFCC and MoRTH making public the foolproof mechanisms for taking care of such apprehensions will be critical to generating confidence and enthusiasm among public over rope projects, particularly in northeast region. Public consultations with experts, particularly with geologists and carrying out in-depth geo-technical investigation before pushing the aerial ropeway projects will be a sensible approach. State Governments in the region will be required to take pro-active initiative to ensure that all safety measures against all kinds of disaster risks are taken by project developers. A mechanism of quick and safe evacuation will be crucial for adequate safeguards. In absence of EIA mechanism, environment activists, groups and local people keeping a watchful eye on ropeway projects can reduce environment and ecological risks. For northeast, the pragmatic approach for MoEFCC will be to subject ropeway projects to EIA to eliminate environment risks.